1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an arrangement having a turbomachine, a cooler, and a carrying frame that accommodates the turbomachine and the cooler. The carrying frame has frame segments, and the cooler has at least one essentially pipe-shaped cooling element disposed horizontally. The frame segments are disposed at a distance from one another in the longitudinal direction of the cooling element, and have contact points on the underside to support the arrangement on a floor surface or a base frame. The turbomachine can be used, for example, as a compressor, an expander, or as a combined expander/compressor arrangement (compander), for various gas processes. Because of the change in status of the working medium of the turbomachine, extreme temperature differences are produced, which can lead to different expansions of the parts of the arrangement. In the coolers, in particular, great temperature differences occur, which can lead to great thermal deformations.
2. The Prior Art
Arrangements having the characteristics described initially are known from practice, and a very compact method of construction, resistant to torsion, can be achieved by arranging the turbomachine and the cooler on a common carrying frame. The turbomachine and an optionally provided electrical machine are typically disposed above the cooler, on the frame segments. In order to avoid material stresses and maladjustment of the turbomachine and the optionally provided electrical machine due to the thermal expansion of the cooler, the known arrangements are only attached to a base frame or a floor surface, for example a foundation or a ship deck, with the contact points of only one frame segment, while the other contact points can slide on the floor surface or the base frame, respectively, as the result of a thermal deformation of the at least one cooling element. It is a disadvantage that forces due to ship movements can only be absorbed in a limited range, and this can lead to deformations of the frame. For this reason, the frame must be fixed in place with the base at several contact points, and again, thermal deformation of the frame is hindered. This can lead to great reaction forces at the fixation points with the base, and to material fatigue in the frame or at the coolers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,815 describes an arrangement with a gas turbine drive mechanism and a heat exchanger. The two pipes of the heat exchanger are mounted, at their ends, in such a manner that thermally or mechanically caused stresses in the components of the arrangement can be balanced out by a bearing play that permits a relative movement of the pipes about the bearing points, as well as by movably disposed bearings for the pipes. A carrying frame for a heat exchanger is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,866, in which the pipes of the heat exchanger are mounted in the carrying frame in thermally isolated manner, by way of flanges. In addition, thermally caused expansion of the pipes in the axial and/or radial direction as well as limited sideways movement of the pipes are also possible.